Projo Politics Blog

The governor's office is in for a busy week.

In an unusual move late Friday afternoon, the Senate transmitted a whopping 201 bills -- its entire roster of legislation approved in the final days of the session -- to Governor Carcieri's desk for his signature.

Typically, lawmakers transmit their legislation piecemeal in the days after the session. But Senate spokesman Greg Pare today denied that there was anything abnormal about this year's bulk move.

The goal, he said, is always to get all the bills to the governor by the July 4th holiday.

Now the clock is ticking. The governor has until the end of this week to decide which, if any, bills he wants to veto.

John Robitaille, Carcieri's communications director said "The governor's office is capable of reviewing this number of bills within the veto deadline, considering that they are carefully followed during the session. This is mainly a final review."

That may be a good thing because when they finish with the Senate bills, they'll have another pile to tackle. The House is expected to transmit an additional 200 bills to the governor by the end of the day today, according to a spokesman.

-- Journal staff writer Cynthia Needham

 Tags  General Assembly governor legislation

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